The Penn's Grove record., 1887-03-12
THE ADOPTED CHILD.

She was very faIr to look upon, this
Alice st. Avon, with deep, wine-dark
ewes, the roseate bloom on her dimpled
cheek, and the wIllowy grace of her
tall, well developed figure. She would
not ill have graced the purple and
ermine OF a princess Of the blood yet
she was nothing more than a govern
ess, sitting there in the gray twilight,
with Charley Worden's weary little
head resting in her lap.
ssHushl" said the child, suddenly,
with uplifted finger. ''hear them laugh
ing down stairs. Oh, Miss st. Avon,
how happy they must bel'
"Why do you not 60 down stairs.
Charley, and enjoy yourself with the
other children?"
81 did, Miss st. Avon, and Aunt
Lois frowned at me, and told me to go
out again with my old faded clothes.
1 wish l had nice clothes, Miss st.
Avon"
"Have you asked your uncle to buy
them for your"
Uncle says l am a nuisance, and he
shall have me bound out to soma
tradesman."
''Charley, l thought you had some
money of your own"
81 thought so, too" said the little
fellow, with a puzzled look. when
first papa brought me here uncle and
aunt were SO glad. and kissed me, and
said what a beautiful child l was. and
that they should love me like their
own. Oh, Miss st. Avon, do you sup
pose papa will never come home again?''
She smoothed his fiaxen-gold hair
tenderly.
ST do not know. Charley"
"But, Miss st. Avon, what do you
thinkp''
ST do not like to think about it at
all, Charley"
If she had told him what were her
real thoughts, his little heart would
have been heavier than ever. For
Alice knew, from what she had heard
from time to time, that Mr.. Worden
was supposed to have been lost, with
all the other passengers, when the good
ship went down, off the coast of France.
mo need to tell the child" Mrs.
Parker Worden had SAID; and they had
calmly gone on drawing the dividends
that should have been little Charley's.
Alice did not know how cruelty the
lonely orphan was wronged and sighted,
but she felt all her tender womanly
sympathles aroused in his behalf, new
ertheless.
"Does your head ache much, Char
leypn
sit aches most all the time, Miss st.
Avon. Nurse says it's because | keep
taking cold, sleeping in the garrett
"But why don't you sleep with Ru'
pert and Alfredo"
"They won't let me. They say /
moan and cry, and disturb them, in my
Sleep"
my poor little mani" murmured
Alice, drawing him closer to her,
"Hushl there is the dlnner.bell; run
down now"
81 don't take my dinner with my
uucle and aunt and my cousins. | eat
with the servants"
"With the ~servantsl How Is that,
Charleyp"
Alice st. Avon had been away for a
month attending the dying-bed of her
aunt, the only surviving relative that
she had, and these later regulations
were quite new to her.
"Aunt Lois says there are children
enough at the table, and that l must
not come there any more. 1t seems. y
he added. with a little piteous sigh,
shat l am In the way everywhere"
Poor little Charleyl he was not far
wrong In the supposltion that had
forced itself upon his childish con-
s~ciousnesS.
Alice went with him to the lonely
garrett, which vas his sleeping place
now, for the child seemed feveTish and
far from well that night. 1t was dark
dismal, and bitterly cold; a hard straw
mattress, with no pillow and an INSULT
Gent supply of blankets, lay In one
corner.
"Merciful Heavenl" calculated the
young governess, involuntarily, what
a placed"
Charley crept closer to her.
81 wouldn't mind 1t so much, Miss
st. Avon" he whispered. 'but / am
80 afraid Of the big black rats that
come out at night and look at me with
their bright eyes"
"You ought not to sleep here, Char.
ley-you a sick childl"
"Aunt Lois says l must, and l am
afraid of Aunt LOIS"
"AfraidP WbyY"
"She beats mel" whispered the child,
hanging his head; ''she strikes me on
the ear when / dare TO complain"
II will speak to her myself. Come,
Charley" and Alice resolutely de.
scended the stairs, holding her little
charge by the hand.
Mrs. Parker Worden was in her bed
room dressing for a ball, her long black